[opendtv] Re: Sony, six cable companies adopt two-way CableCARD tech

  • From: Bill Sheppard <Bill.Sheppard@xxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:23:36 -0700

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

At 12:20 PM -0400 5/29/08, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:

This is what Michael Powell was trying to make happen. This should also
work with so-called switched video.

It seems inevitable that other companies will also sign on, and will
then also have a voice in the evolution of this standard.

Does this really matter anymore?
Panasonic has had an agreement for more than a year - last I looked it has not resulted in any meaningful products.
There are a lot of moving parts here, but Sony coming on board is a significant event. Yes, Panasonic has had an agreement for several years, but they can't release product until a)the OCAP spec is sufficiently mature, b)the cable operators have upgraded their head ends and other operational systems to support OCAP, and c)they have one or more cable operators who are willing to support their efforts with marketing dollars. Panasonic can put tru2way (the consumer-facing brand for OCAP) devices on the store shelves, but without significant consumer education it's likely few people would buy them. It's been said that Comcast has budgeted $50M this year to promote Panasonic (and perhaps Samsung) tru2way TV's at retail this fall, meaning you'll likely see lots of advertising regarding the benefits of tru2way and I surmise price incentives so that a tru2way TV is no more expensive than the comparable model without tru2way support.
Sony's support is key because they had been leading a counter-OCAP effort called DCR+, which was simply the latest flavor of Microsoft's decade-old attempts to keep Java out of the living room by focusing on protocols rather than API's. With Sony onboard tru2way (and Tivo and Intel having previously announced their support) the DCR+ group is unlikely to maintain enough critical mass to distract the industry's efforts from achieving a single standard platform. Further, it would appear from details coming out around Sony's announcement that the MoU formalizes a method by which the CE vendor and the cable operator can each present their own "face to the consumer" on the same device, i.e. the cable operator's guide with whatever content (and restrictions) they provide, and the CE vendor can support whatever capabilities and content they are able to deliver independently of (or in cooperation with) the cable operator. With internet connectivity (i.e. DLNA support, YouTube, etc.) increasingly built-in to TV's, the availability of a standard platform to deliver this content should accelerate development of a marketplace independent of the cable operator.
Finally, what is now essentially a unifed CE voice (without the distraction of DCR+) may well provide the focus required to gain DirecTV, Dish, AT&T, and Verizon's support of a common OCAP-ish platform. Which, having spent the last eleven years at Sun in pursuit of this goal, would delight me to no end! 

Bill
--
*Bill Sheppard*
Chief Digital Media Officer
Client Software Group
*Sun Microsystems, Inc.*
4220 Network Circle M/S USCA22-316
Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA
Phone/Fax: +1 408 404-1254
Email bill.sheppard@xxxxxxx


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